Thread: Help, my grass is total nightmare

I purchased some seeds from the local Co-Op after killing off the weeds/lawn last year. I chose a high tolerant Kentucky strain mixed with another drought resistant that grew fairly quick, but I noticed I had splotchy patches.

The Kentucky look to me like a type you'd put in a pasture or field, when cut the patchy areas were more noticeable, almost a spidery look is the best I can describe it. So my question is, should I kill the lawn off again, wait the three weeks, fertilize and then put down some Bermuda or else?

The only grass I know that's more evasive and that can take control is centipede which is very common in my home state of MS, but I now reside in Middle TN. It's also a rental, so I do not want to spend too much to remedy this.

What product available to the general public do you recommend to take control of the trash grass and weeds?

You need to start over. I would spray a 2% roundup solution on that and reseed 1 week later. If you want fescue you need to seed that Sept. 1, if you want bermuda you need to seed that now. Both of those type's of seed's need water to get going. Sunlight and air movement is important to both of those grass's, improve that all you can, bermuda won't live in the shade, fescue will.

Kentucky 31 is a pasture grass, it was the very first fescue marketed to homeowner's in the early 1950's, and it was chosen because it survived being chewed on by cow's. It is also the lowest performer among fescue's and you can get much better seed.

Familiarize yourself with how to read the breakdown of contents label found on grass-seed bags.
Some of them (IE K-31) have over 5% crap-weed or undesirable grass seeds in them...that's at least 1 out of every 20 seeds! It's another 'you get what you pay for' kind of thing.

__________________
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I have to take some of the blame. I was mixing fescue by the description on each bin, being a normal man who "knows" it all. Great feedback guys, really appreciate it. Once this cold rain/sleet/snow mix moves out Sunday, I'll get the yard killed, ready for a fertilizer and seed.

http://tennesseeturf.utk.edu/. Use this as a reference from now on. Don't hesitate to ask questions. Many homeowners make mistakes to their lawns by simply not knowing the correct steps to take. As someone mentioned above, everything starts with a soil test. Do that before you do anything else. Do it now because it'll take a few weeks to get the results back. Have the mindset of feeding your soil, not your grass. Don't apply anything to your soil without testing first.